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Bones and ochre : the curious afterlife of the Red Lady of Paviland

"Marianne Sommer unravels a tale about a set of ancient human bones and their curious afterlife as a scientific object." "When the ochre-stained bones were unearthed in a Welsh cave in 1823, they inspired unsettling questions regarding their origin. Their discoverer, William Buckland, declared the remains to be Post-Diluvian, possibly those of a tax-man murdered by smugglers. Shortly thereafter he reinterpreted the bones as those of a female fortune-teller in Roman Britain - and so began the casting and recasting of the Red Lady. Geologist William Sollas re-excavated Paviland Cave, applying methods and theories not available to Buckland some ninety years earlier, and concluded that the skeleton was male and Cro-Magnon. Recently, an interdisciplinary team excavated the cave and reinterpreted its contents. Despite their "definitive report" in 2000, Sommer suggests this latest project still hasn't solved the mystery of the Red Lady. Rather, the Red Lady, now a shaman and icon of Welsh ancient history, continues to be implicated in questions of scientific and political authority." "The biography of the Red Lady reflects the personal, professional, and national ambitions of those who studied her and echoes the era in which the research was conducted. In Bones and Ochre. Sommer reveals how paleoanthropology has emerged as an international, interdisciplinary, modern science."--Jacket.Read more...

pt. 1. William Buckland, an ancient British witch, and the question of human antiquity --
William Buckland --
Man among the cannibalistic hyenas? --
The romance of the witch of Paviland --
Buckland accused --
Man as a crocodile superior? --
The holy order of nature and society --
Conclusion: The Red Lady is no fossil man --
pt. 2. William Sollas, a Cro-Magnon man, and issues of human evolution --
William Sollas --
Ancient hunters and their modern representatives --
The Red Lady is a Cro-Magnon man --
Human evolution as a trunkless tree --
The "evolutionary" versus the "historical" model --
The moral authority of nature --
Conclusion: Turbulent times for an "old lady" --
pt. 3. An interdisciplinary team, an early Upper Paleolithic shaman, and a definitive report --
The Paviland project and its results --
There is magic at work --
Visualizing Paviland Cave --
The end of the Red Lady's story : a definitive report? --
Conclusion: An unfinished life --
Postscript --
Appendix A: Archaeological and geological series --
Appendix B: Schematized views of human evolution.

Abstract:

When the ochre-stained bones were unearthed in a Welsh cave in 1823, they inspired unsettling questions regarding their origin. Their discoverer interpreted the bones as those of a female fortune-teller in Roman Britain - and so began the casting and recasting of the Red Lady. This book reflects the ambitions of those who studied the Red Lady.Read more...

<http://www.worldcat.org/title/-/oclc/138340175#Review/454385790> a schema:Review ;schema:itemReviewed <http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/138340175> ; # Bones and ochre : the curious afterlife of the Red Lady of Pavilandschema:reviewBody ""Marianne Sommer unravels a tale about a set of ancient human bones and their curious afterlife as a scientific object." "When the ochre-stained bones were unearthed in a Welsh cave in 1823, they inspired unsettling questions regarding their origin. Their discoverer, William Buckland, declared the remains to be Post-Diluvian, possibly those of a tax-man murdered by smugglers. Shortly thereafter he reinterpreted the bones as those of a female fortune-teller in Roman Britain - and so began the casting and recasting of the Red Lady. Geologist William Sollas re-excavated Paviland Cave, applying methods and theories not available to Buckland some ninety years earlier, and concluded that the skeleton was male and Cro-Magnon. Recently, an interdisciplinary team excavated the cave and reinterpreted its contents. Despite their "definitive report" in 2000, Sommer suggests this latest project still hasn't solved the mystery of the Red Lady. Rather, the Red Lady, now a shaman and icon of Welsh ancient history, continues to be implicated in questions of scientific and political authority." "The biography of the Red Lady reflects the personal, professional, and national ambitions of those who studied her and echoes the era in which the research was conducted. In Bones and Ochre. Sommer reveals how paleoanthropology has emerged as an international, interdisciplinary, modern science."--Jacket." ; .